Libertarians See Democrat, GOP Woes As Chance to Shine

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Libertarians See Democrat, GOP Woes As Chance to Shine http://gazette.com/libertarians-see-democrat-gop-woes-as-chance-to-shine/article/1580043 Libertarians see Democrat, GOP woes as chance to shine By: Megan Schrader July 10, 2016 Updated: July 11, 2016 at 7:37 pm Loyal Libertarians across the nation hope this could be the year for a speck of gold on an electoral college map that for almost the past five decades has been red for Republicans and blue for Democrats. "To break the stranglehold of the two-party system, it's going to take a situation where we couldn't possibly predict, where all of a sudden people are going to be extraordinarily unhappy and want to jump ship," said Caryn Ann Harlos, communications director for the Colorado Libertarian Party. "It's a long time to November. The stars could align even more. Am I a dreamer? I think you've got to be a little bit of an ideological dreamer to be in a third party." The stars aligning for Harlos, and others, include the nomination of New Mexico's former Republican Gov. Gary Johnson for president and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld for vice president at a time when the Republican and Democratic nominees are struggling with their own demons. A video on the Johnson Weld campaign website cleverly bills the duo: "A credible alternative to Clintrump." "We've been working on this party for 45 years this December, building it up," said Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark. "We've done the work over the decades to attract candidates of the stature of Gov. Johnson and Gov. Weld. We could have a breakout this year ... with the collaboration of the two old parties who have nominated the two most hated figures in American politics, ever." So what could winning a state in November look like for Johnson and Weld? A long shot for sure. But possibly like Colorado. The Libertarian Party was founded in the home of Colorado Springs anti-tax advocate Luke Zell, a City Council gadfly who ran around with Douglas Bruce (notably never a member of the party) and the acknowledged founder of the party David Nolan. Nolan and Zell have died as have many of the advocates who launched the party in 1971 in Colorado Springs and held the first convention in Denver. But for Colorado, the tradition has lived on as have the popularity of the philosophies espoused by those founding members. Today there are just over 27,000 active registered members of the Libertarian Party in Colorado, according to July 1 statistics from the secretary of state, which frequently puts it in the top 10 most active states for the party, Harlos said. But the potential for Johnson and Weld in Colorado goes beyond party's history here and registration numbers. "The culture of the state of Colorado embodies the overarching principle of the party," Sarwark said, who for a time was a public defender in Arapahoe County before moving to Arizona and becoming chair of the party. "You have the right to pursue happiness in any way you chose as long as you don't hurt anyone or take anyone's stuff." He said Colorado tends to be liberal on social issues but conservative on other issues like fiscal concerns or gun rights. And Colorado has the kind of voter split that could spell victory, requiring only a plurality to win the state if Hillary Clinton takes her share of Colorado's 980,000 registered Democrats, Donald Trump gets the 890,000 registered Republicans who vote and Johnson taps into the 1 million unaffiliated voters. Richard Winger, a longtime Libertarian who runs the website Ballot Access News, said Johnson is likely to do well in his home state of New Mexico, but also in Utah where he said the huge Republican voting bloc overlaps with members of the Mormon faith who "dislike Trump." Johnson was polling at 10 percent in a recent poll conducted of Utah voters by UtahPolicy.com and Dan Jones and Associates, while an earlier poll by the Salt Lake Tribute had him at 13 percent. That's a better showing than in Colorado where the June CBS News YouGov online poll had Johnson at 4 percent. But Winger said more than trying to win a state, Johnson needs to take 5 percent of the popular vote, a threshold not reached by a third-party candidate since Ross Perot ran on the Reform ticket in 1996. "It could be historic if he gets 5 percent," Winger said. "That would mean the party could get public funding from the Federal Election Commission." Winger estimates that share would hypothetically be around $16 million if Johnson wins 7 percent of the vote. "Which is a lot of money," Winger said. The last candidate to accept public funding - and the spending limits that accepting the money entails - was Sen. John McCain in 2008. Records from the Federal Election Commission show the GOP nominee took $84 million that year. It's hard to get to 5 percent of the popular vote, however, without getting on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The difficulty of getting on the ballot cannot be understated, Winger said. The Libertarian Party seems likely to pull it off this year, he said, but not without some difficulty. Some states have huge thresholds, noting the toughest require a vote threshold in a previous statewide election of 2 percent or close to 90,000 signatures. Sarwark estimated it will cost the party about $500,000 to get Johnson on the ballot across the nation, and that's possible in large part due to the groundwork of the party over many years. "It could cost $5 million to $10 million if you do it from a standing start," Sarwark said, noting that there are also early deadlines in some states that a candidate is likely to miss. The American Constitution Party (known nationally as the Constitution Party) which has 7,710 registered voters in Colorado, is likely to nominate Darrell Castle for the presidency. He's on the ballot in 18 states, including Colorado, according to the party website. The Green Party, which is expected to nominate Jill Stein as its presidential candidate in August, has 7,441 registered voters in Colorado. Stein, a doctor and longtime environmental advocate, is on the ballot in 23 states including Colorado, according to the party website. There's another critical threshold for Johnson though and that's hitting 15 percent in major national polls to get invited to the presidential debates. Of three polls this July that included Johnson, one funded by The Economist had him at 4 percent, a Reuters poll had him at 6 percent and a Rasmussen Reports poll had him at 9 percent. "In terms of name recognition, we're pretty far behind," Sarwark said. "It's a matter of stabilizing north of 15 percent to then get into the national televised debates. Once that happens, it's a matter of kind of coalescing all the people who are really unhappy with their choices. I saw a poll that had Donald Trump's negatives at 70 percent, which I didn't even know was possible." But aside from name recognition, Johnson has a policy problem or two. The Libertarian Party platform begins: "we seek a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others." That means closely held beliefs of either party can get crosswise with Johnson who believes in a woman's right to chose, ending the war on drugs (namely supporting the legalization of marijuana but not other narcotics) and is a staunch advocate for smaller government. "I want government out of our pocketbooks," he said at the Libertarian Party's convention. "Taxation is theft." In his moment to shine, an hourlong town hall broadcast on CNN, some critics said Johnson fell short of winning over voters. "The two-party system is a two-party dinosaur and ... they're about to come in contact with the comet here," Johnson said on CNN. "I think that is a real possibility. Look there are extremes on both sides. And I think most Americans are Libertarian. It's just that they don't know it, and this is an opportunity tonight to describe that." What If: Could Gary Johnson get hot and play the spoiler? On Road to 270, Arizona is home to best chance for a spoiler .
Recommended publications
  • Libertarian Party National Convention | First Sitting May 22-24, 2020 Online Via Zoom
    LIBERTARIAN PARTY NATIONAL CONVENTION | FIRST SITTING MAY 22-24, 2020 ONLINE VIA ZOOM CURRENT STATUS: FINAL APPROVAL DATE: 9/12/20 PREPARED BY ~~aryn ,~nn ~ar~aQ, LNC SECRETARY TABLE OF CONTENTS CONVENTION FIRST SITTING DAY 1-OPENING 3 CALL TO ORDER 3 CONVENTION OFFICIALS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS 3 CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE REPORT 4 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA FOR THE FIRST SITTING 7 CONVENTION FIRST SITTING DAY 1-ADJOURNMENT 16 CONVENTION FIRST SITTING DAY 2 -OPENING 16 CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE UPDATE 16 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION 18 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION QUALIFICATION TOKENS 18 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION SPEECHES 23 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 1 24 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 2 26 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 3 28 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 4 32 CONVENTION FIRST SITTING DAY 2 -ADJOURNMENT 33 CONVENTION FIRST SITTING DAY 3 -OPENING 33 CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE UPDATE 33 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION 35 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION QUALIFICATION TOKENS 35 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION SPEECHES 37 ADDRESS BY PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE DR. JO JORGENSEN 37 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 1 38 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 2 39 VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION – BALLOT 3 40 STATUS OF TAXATION 41 ADJOURNMENT TO CONVENTION SECOND SITTING 41 SPECIAL THANKS 45 Appendix A – State-by-State Detail for Election Results 46 Appendix B – Election Anomalies and Other Convention Observations 53 2020 NATIONAL CONVENTION | FIRST SITTING VIA ZOOM – FINAL Page 2 LEGEND: text to be inserted, text to be deleted, unchanged existing text. All vote results, points of order, substantive objections, and rulings will be set off by BOLD ITALICS. The LPedia article for this convention can be found at: https://lpedia.org/wiki/NationalConvention2020 Recordings for this meeting can be found at the LPedia link.
    [Show full text]
  • Gary Johnson Warns Political Establishment: Libertarians
    Libertarian National Committee, Inc. • 1444 Duke St. • Alexandria, VA 22314 • Phone: (202) 333-0008 • Fax: (202) 333-0072 www.LP.org July 2016 Gary Johnson warns political establishment: Libertarians ‘disrupting the two-party duopoly’ by Jennnifer Harper Excerpted from the Washington Times are, indeed, saying, ‘I’m in,’” says Mr. Johnson, who ran for Published on July 6, 2016 the White House in 2012 and snagged 1.2 million votes with a minimum of public outreach. he Libertarian Party made a big noise in the nation’s cap- Times have changed since then. The Johnson–Weld cam- Tital [this week]. Libertarian presidential nominee Gary paign has [a] formal fundraising apparatus in place, a spiffy Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld, descended on the new video, and a full calendar of public appearances. A Morn- National Press Club for a sold-out public event broadcast ing Consult poll released [on July 5] found Mr. Johnson with live on C-SPAN. The two former governors outlined — very 11 percent of the vote; Mr. Trump garnered 37 percent; Mrs. clearly — why their third-party effort is more likely to suc- Clinton, 38 percent. The Libertarian candidate, however, has ceed this year than in past elections. Persistent voter disen- his eye fixed on 15 percent — which would qualify him to chantment with establishment politics is a significant factor. participate in the sanctioned, nationally televised presiden- “We are becoming factors in the presidential campaign tial debates, just over two months off. that can no longer be ignored. We are already disrupting the “The key is to reach 15 percent consistently in these major two-party duopoly — and neither Donald Trump nor Hillary national polls.
    [Show full text]
  • What Happened?: the 2020 Election Showed That Libertarians Have a Long Way to Go Before They Can Become a Page 1 of 4 National Movement
    USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: What Happened?: The 2020 election showed that libertarians have a long way to go before they can become a Page 1 of 4 national movement. What Happened?: The 2020 election showed that libertarians have a long way to go before they can become a national movement. In the 2020 presidential election, the Libertarian Party candidate, Jo Jorgensen, gained 1.2 percent of the vote, less than half the party’s 2016 election result. Jeffrey Michels and Olivier Lewis write that despite signs that pointed towards the potential for libertarian voters to be king makers in the 2020 election, their dislike of Donald Trump turned many to Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Following the 2020 US General Election, our mini-series, ‘What Happened?’, explores aspects of elections at the presidential, Senate, House of Representative and state levels, and also reflects on what the election results will mean for US politics moving forward. If you are interested in contributing, please contact Rob Ledger ([email protected]) or Peter Finn ([email protected]). In the 2016 US Presidential election, the former Republican Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson gained 3.3 percent of the national vote share, the highest on record for a Libertarian Party presidential candidate. This modest milestone could have been written off as the result of a race featuring two highly unpopular mainstream candidates, Donald Trump and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. But it might also have portended a more meaningful movement in US electoral politics, one in which a growing Libertarian Party – or at least an increasingly independent bloc of libertarian voters – gains the critical mass to tip the race.
    [Show full text]
  • School Election Results
    PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY ELECTION MOCK SCHOOL ELECTION CONDUCTED BY THE FLAGLER COUNTY ELECTIONS OFFICE ELECTION RESULTS BY SCHOOL CUMULATIVE ELECTION RESULTS PPP Mock Election - FPC Results County Wide School Election Results United States President (Vote For One) United States President (Vote For One) Name Votes Pct Name Votes Pct Ron Paul 102 37.50% Mitt Romney 366 27.51% Mitt Romney 47 17.28% Ron Paul 319 23.98% Herman Cain 31 11.40% Rick Santorum 211 15.86% Newt Gingrich 25 9.19% Newt Gingrich 171 12.85% Michele Bachmann 24 8.82% Herman Cain 112 8.42% Rick Santorum 19 6.99% Michele Bachmann 93 6.99% Jon Huntsman 11 4.04% Rick Perry 36 2.70% Rick Perry 9 3.31% Jon Huntsman 17 1.27% Gary Johnson 4 1.47% Gary Johnson 11 0.82% Total Votes: 272 Total Votes From All Schools: 1330 PPP Mock Election - MHS Results United States President (Vote For One) Mitt Romney Name Votes Pct Ron Paul Mitt Romney 85 22.43% Rick Santorum Ron Paul 79 20.84% Newt Gingrich Herman Cain 67 17.68% Michele Bachmann 57 15.04% Herman Cain Rick Santorum 31 8.18% Michele Bachmann Newt Gingrich 30 7.92% Rick Perry Rick Perry 20 5.28% Jon Huntsman Jon Huntsman 5 1.32% Gary Johnson 5 1.32% Gary Johnson Total Votes: 379 PPP Mock Election - BTMS Results United States President (Vote For One) Name Votes Pct Mitt Romney 219 35.78% Rick Santorum 145 23.69% Newt Gingrich 107 17.48% Ron Paul 107 17.48% Herman Cain 13 2.12% Michele Bachmann 12 1.96% Rick Perry 7 1.14% Jon Huntsman 1 0.16% Gary Johnson 1 0.16% Total Votes: 612 PPP Mock Election - ITMS Results United States President (Vote For One) Name Votes Pct Ron Paul 31 46.27% Mitt Romney 18 26.87% Newt Gingrich 9 13.43% Rick Santorum 7 10.45% Herman Cain 1 1.49% Gary Johnson 1 1.49% Michele Bachmann 0 0% Jon Huntsman 0 0% Rick Perry 0 0% Total Votes: 67.
    [Show full text]
  • Women and the Presidency
    Women and the Presidency By Cynthia Richie Terrell* I. Introduction As six women entered the field of Democratic presidential candidates in 2019, the political media rushed to declare 2020 a new “year of the woman.” In the Washington Post, one political commentator proclaimed that “2020 may be historic for women in more ways than one”1 given that four of these woman presidential candidates were already holding a U.S. Senate seat. A writer for Vox similarly hailed the “unprecedented range of solid women” seeking the nomination and urged Democrats to nominate one of them.2 Politico ran a piece definitively declaring that “2020 will be the year of the woman” and went on to suggest that the “Democratic primary landscape looks to be tilted to another woman presidential nominee.”3 The excited tone projected by the media carried an air of inevitability: after Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, despite receiving 2.8 million more popular votes than her opponent, ever more women were running for the presidency. There is a reason, however, why historical inevitably has not yet been realized. Although Americans have selected a president 58 times, a man has won every one of these contests. Before 2019, a major party’s presidential debates had never featured more than one woman. Progress toward gender balance in politics has moved at a glacial pace. In 1937, seventeen years after passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Gallup conducted a poll in which Americans were asked whether they would support a woman for president “if she were qualified in every other respect?”4 * Cynthia Richie Terrell is the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen, an organization dedicated to advancing women’s representation and leadership in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Libertarian Party Candidates Call for Military Downsizing
    WWW.LP.ORG MINIMUM GOVERNMENT • MAXIMUM FREEDOM Take a look at the brand-new The Party of Principle™ LNC office in Alexandria! Read more on Page 5 August 2014 The Official Newspaper of the Libertarian Party Volume 44, Issue 4 In This Issue: 2014 LP National Convention coverage inside! Chair’s Corner ...........................2 ibertarian Party del- June to meet, recharge their Far more happened at pages 7–11. So head inside for egates, members, and batteries, inspire each other to the 2014 LP National Con- coverage of the new LNC chair LPfriends from across the work even harderNews to achieve vention than we can chronicle and officers, platform and by- Downsizing the Military ............3 L nation and overseas gathered liberty, and decide the future here, but we’ve captured some laws changes, featured speak- Office Fund Donors ...................4 in Columbus, Ohio, in late of the party. of the highlights for you on ers and events, and more! LNC Purchases New Office ........5 Libertarian Party candidates Debate Commission Lawsuit .....6 call for military downsizing Iowa Candidates .......................6 By Carla Howell 8th, Indiana; Heather Johnson, U.S. Political Director Senate, Minnesota; Davy Jones, 2014 National Convention..7–11 U.S. House 2nd, West Virginia; Bill s Democrats and Republicans Kelsey, U.S. House 10th, Texas; Scott MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews Record Candidates for LPVA ...12 flirt with more interventions in Kohlhaas, U.S. Senate, Alaska; Mike interviews Sean Haugh, Libertarian Party Ukraine, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Kolls, U.S. House 24th, Texas; Len- candidate for U.S. Senate in North Carolina A ny Ladner, U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • March 10-11, 2012, LNC Meeting Minutes
    LNC MEETING MINUTES ROSEN CENTRE, ORLANDO, FL MARCH 10-11, 2012 CURRENT STATUS: AUTO-APPROVED APRIL 7, 2012 VERSION LAST UPDATED: MARCH 17, 2012 LEGEND: text to be inserted - text to be deleted CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 9:14am at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Florida. ATTENDANCE Attending the meeting were: Officers: Mark Hinkle (Chair), Mark Rutherford (Vice-Chair), Alicia Mattson (Secretary), Bill Redpath (Treasurer) At-Large Representatives: Kevin Knedler, Wayne Allyn Root, Mary Ruwart, Rebecca Sink-Burris Regional Representatives: Doug Craig (Region 1), Stewart Flood (Region 1), Dan Wiener (Region 1), Vicki Kirkland (Region 2), Andy Wolf (Region 3), Norm Olsen (Region 4), Jim Lark (Region 5S), Dianna Visek (Region 6) Regional Alternates: Scott Lieberman (Region 1), Brad Ploeger (Region 1), David Blau (Region 2), Brett Pojunis (Region 4), Audrey Capozzi (Region 5N) Randy Eshelman (At-Large) and Dan Karlan (Region 5N) were not present. LNC Counsel Gary Sinawski was not present, but did participate by phone in Executive Session. Staff present included Executive Director Carla Howell and Operations Director Robert Kraus. LNC Minutes – Orlando, FL – March 10-11, 2012 Page 1 The gallery contained numerous other attendees including, but not limited to: Lynn House (FL), Chuck House (FL), Joey Kidd (GA), John Wayne Smith (FL), Aaron Starr (CA), Chad Monnin (OH), Aaron Harris (OH), Steve LaBianca (FL) CREDENTIALS Since the previous LNC session, the following events have occurred with regard to LNC credentials: • On December 21, Region 5N notified the LNC Secretary that Audrey Capozzi had been selected to serve as their regional alternate, filling the vacancy created when Carl Vassar resigned.
    [Show full text]
  • Ideological Positions of Hispanic College Students in the Rio Grande Valley: Using a Two-Dimensional Model to Account for Domestic Policy Preference
    University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ScholarWorks @ UTRGV Economics and Finance Faculty Publications Robert C. Vackar College of Business & and Presentations Entrepreneurship 6-8-2018 Ideological Positions of Hispanic College Students in the Rio Grande Valley: Using a Two-Dimensional Model to Account for Domestic Policy Preference William Greene South Texas College Mi-Son Kim The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/ef_fac Part of the Finance Commons Recommended Citation Greene, William and Kim, Mi-son, Ideological Positions of Hispanic College Students in the Rio Grande Valley: Using a Two-Dimensional Model to Account for Domestic Policy Preference (October 24, 2016). Presented at the National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies International Research Forum, South Padre Island, Texas October 24, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2859819 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship at ScholarWorks @ UTRGV. It has been accepted for inclusion in Economics and Finance Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UTRGV. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Ideological Positions of Hispanic College Students in the Rio Grande Valley Using a Two-Dimensional Model to Account for Domestic Policy Preference William Greene Mi-son Kim South Texas College University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
    [Show full text]
  • Brexit, Donald Trump and the Populist Upsurge
    Master of Arts Thesis Euroculture University of Uppsala (First university) University of Groningen (Second university) August 1st, 2017. Brexit, Donald Trump and the Populist Upsurge A comparative analysis of Brexit Leave Campaign & Trump’s Presidential Campaign based on Mudde’s Minimal Definition of Populism. Submitted by: Anastasia Avetisova Student number first university: Anav9245 Student number second university: s3069311 Contact details: +46736581568 [email protected] Supervised by: James Leigh (University of Groningen) & Moa Mårtensson (University of Uppsala) Sweden, 01/08-17 A. Avetisova MA Programme Euroculture Declaration I, Anastasia Avetisova, hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “Brexit, Donald Trump and the Populist Upsurge: A comparative analysis of Brexit Leave Campaign & Trump’s Presidential Campaign based on Mudde’s Minimal Definition of Populism” submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within this text of words of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, text, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography. I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulation pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture. Signed: Date: 01/08-2017. 2 A. Avetisova ABSTRACT The recent upsurge of electoral success from the Brexit Leave campaign and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign 2016, confirm that populist politics has taken a greater role in Europe and in the U.S. The purpose of this research is to see to what extent each of the two campaigns are populist, and whether their statements are similar to each other.
    [Show full text]
  • Frontier Project Candidate Elected
    THE PARTY OF PRINCIPLE® LP.org ELECTION RESULTS SEE PAGE 10 Quarter 3, 2020 THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY Vol. 50, Issue 3 FrontierLP Project News candidate elected Marshall Burt’s historic statehouse win is first since 2002, fifth in party history By Andy Craig registered voter in the district many times “We must make Wyoming the most at- Maryland over, engaging in both persuasion and tractive state to do business in and inno- careful tracking of the state of the race. Pa- vate. We need to begin diversifying our or the first time in a generation, a zell also worked closely in the community economy so that crises like this do not Libertarian has been elected to a to secure key endorsements and support have such a big impact on our families in state legislature. Marshall Burt, a from local leaders. the future.” Ftrack inspector for the Union Pacific rail- LNC Chair Joe Bishop-Henchman Republican and Democratic mem- road and Marine Corps veteran, defeat- sees Burt’s victory as a vindication for the bers of the House also reached out to ed a long-time Democratic incumbent Frontier Project’s model. “It’s time for the Burt, offering their congratulations and to represent Wyoming’s House District Libertarian Party to get out of start-up expressing their eagerness to work with 39. Burt’s campaign was spearheaded by mode. Winning elections for state legisla- Wyoming’s first third-party legislator in Apollo Pazell, candidate support special- State Representative-Elect ture is a crucial step for the party’s growth, more than a century.
    [Show full text]
  • Press Release Template
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Caryn Ann Harlos MARCH 19, 2018 Cell 561.523.2250 Email [email protected] Website www.LPColorado.org LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF COLORADO CONTINUES TO GROW The Libertarian Party of Colorado (LPCO) recently celebrated its 45,000 voter registration, continuing its rein as the largest third party in the state. “I am proud and honored to be part of the continually growing liberty movement,” says Wayne Harlos, State Chairman of the LPCO. “This increased interest in our party is indicative of a growing dissatisfaction with politics as usual, and we hope to continue to be a safe landing space for those people.” The increase in voter registration for the LPCO correlates with the increase of votes received by Libertarian candidates, such as Gary Johnson, the Libertarian presidential candidate for the 2012 and 2016 election. Johnson received 32,262 votes in Colorado in 2012 (1.3% of the total). In 2016, he received 144,121 in 2016 (5.2%)—a 346 percent increase. Johnson went on to garner 4.4 million votes nationwide during the 2016 election, which is the most successful campaign by any Libertarian presidential nominee. The growth in Colorado’s Libertarian Party is part of an overall increase in interest in libertarianism nationwide. According a report conducted by Ballot Access news, national registration for the Libertarian Party has increased by 92 percent since 2008. During this same time period, registrations for the Democratic and Republican Parties have decreased— down 8 percent for the former and 5 percent for the latter. “People are quickly abandoning the two-party system, and it’s nice to see so many joining our ranks,” Harlos adds.
    [Show full text]
  • State Voters' Pamphlet
    Voters’ Pamphlet Oregon General Election November 4, 2014 Kate Brown Oregon Secretary of State This voters’ pamphlet is provided for assistance in casting your vote by mail ballot. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE ELECTIONS DIVISION JIM WILLIAMS KATE BROWN DIRECTOR SECRETARY OF STATE 255 CAPITOL ST NE, SUITE 501 ROBERT TAYLOR SALEM, OREGON 97310 DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE (503) 986-1518 Dear Oregon Voters, I’m pleased to present the 2014 General Election Voters’ Pamphlet. Inside you will find valuable information about ballot measures that will affect your rights, as well as candidates who would like to represent you. If you are not yet registered to vote, you have until October 14 to do so. Paper registration forms must be received by your county elections office by 5 p.m. You can register online until 11:59 p.m. by visiting www.oregonvotes.gov. As Oregonians, we are fortunate to live in a state that has removed many barriers to voting. We make it easier for voters serving in the military and voters living overseas to get access to a ballot. We use tablets and computers to make it easier for voters with disabilities to cast ballots. And we deliver a ballot in the mail to every registered Oregonian. It’s your decision whether to mail in the ballot or drop it off in person. As your Secretary of State, I encourage all eligible Oregonians to exercise their fundamental right to vote. I also urge Oregonians to inform themselves about ballot measures and candidates. Read arguments on both sides of the measures.
    [Show full text]